New Attitude, New Altitude
“Let the same attitude that Christ had
dwell in us…” Philippians
2:5
Most of us
in life have developed the false idea that the quality of our lives has to do
with circumstances. The difference has
to do with having a right attitude. It
is the make or break proposition in life in so many ways. Your attitude is the most important
thing about you. More than your past,
education, looks, money, or anything.
Chuck
Swindoll said it this way, “The longer
I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than
facts. It is more important than the
past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than
successes, than what other people think
or say or do. It is more important than
appearance, giftedness, or
skill. It will determine the outcome of
a company a church…a home. The
remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will
embrace for that day. We cannot change
our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one
string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is
10%
of what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our
attitudes.”
John D. Rockefeller once said, “I
will pay a man more for his attitude and his ability to get along with others
than for any other skill he may possess.”
Your attitude is your most important asset. If it’s good, nothing can stop you. If it is bad, nothing will help you. We have to preset our attitudes toward
good.
Francis
Swartz in her book, Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work tells about a guy named Jerry who was always in a good
mood and always had something positive to say. And when asked how he was doing
he would always say, "If I was any better, I’d be twins." Jerry was a
restaurant manager who everybody loved to work for because he was so positive.
And Francis said, "I don’t get it Jerry, you can’t possibly be upbeat all
the time how do you do it?" And Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake
up and say to myself Jerry you have two choices today: you can either choose to
be in a bad mood or choose to be in a good one. And I choose to be in good
mood." "Oh it’s not that easy," I protested, Swartz writes.
"Yes it is," Jerry responded, "Life is all about choices."
Well several years ago, Jerry’s restaurant was robbed. The thieves panicked and
shot him and he was rushed to the emergency room. He spent eighteen hours on
the operating table and several weeks in intensive care but he survived. And,
later she asked him how he did it. He said, "When I was lying on the floor
I remembered I had two choices, I could choose to live or I could choose to
die. I chose to live. The paramedics were encouraging, but when they wheeled me
into the emergency room and I saw the looks on the faces of the doctors and
nurses I got really scared; in their eyes I read he’s a dead man and I knew I
needed to take action.” There was a big burly nurse shouting questions
at me and she asked, “Are you allergic to anything? ‘Yes,’
I replied, and the doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my
reply. ‘BULLETS,’ I answered. And over their laughter I yelled, ‘I’m
choosing to live, operate on me as I am alive, not dead.’” Jerry lived thanks
to the skill of the doctors, to his attitude, and to the grace of God. And
Francis Swartz says, "I saw Jerry six months after the accident and asked
him how he was doing and he replied, ‘If I was any better, I’d be twins.’"
Much of life is determined not by
circumstances but by personal choice. It matters how you choose to live, so I
challenge you to begin to make a personal choice and decide that you are going
to rejoice in the Lord no matter what.
There are great
men in the Bible who teach us this idea: One
was Daniel. There
are few people in the Bible whom we see going through the things that Daniel
did. He was exiled, pressured to submit
to king’s requests, and put in the Lion’s Den.
The Bible says, “But Daniel had a supernatural spirit or attitude…” He could face the worst circumstances. He wasn’t stumped but remained undaunted. He kept His eyes on the Lord. He served as the head of four leaders.
Another was Job.
Job faced trials and adversities of every type. He even lost his family, wealth, health, and
everything else. Job
1:21, “The Lord gave and the Lord has
taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
Then there is Paul.
Paul was showing us how to have a right attitude in hard
circumstances. He says, “In everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul has been beaten, shipwrecked, thrown
into prison, left for dead, and he was treated as a criminal. He knew how to have a right attitude.
Today, God wants to develop a
supernatural attitude in us regarding everything we face or experience. Paul would write in Philippians 2, “Let the same attitude that Christ had dwell
in us…” Could we say that is our
desire this morning? Or have we excused ourselves from letting the Holy Spirit
do that work? Just as Paul showed, it’s a natural byproduct of knowing the
Lord. Ask Paul and he’d tell you…” If he was any better, he’d be twins.”
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1)
Would
you be a glass half-full or glass half-empty person?
2)
Renew
or change your attitude by starting with a heart of gratitude. Thank the Lord for three things that He has
done for you.
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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